Apparatus for the wet-treatment of liquid-permeable materials

ABSTRACT

THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE RELATES AN APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT, PREFERABLY FOR WASHING AND IMPREGNATING LIQUID-PERMEABLE MATERIALS WHICH CAN BE STRESSED IN THE LENGTHWISE DIRECTION. MORE PARTICULARLY, THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE IS DIRECTED TO AN APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND IMPREGNATING TEXTILE MATERIALS WHEREIN DURING THE TREATMENT PROCESS, ADVANTAGEOUSLY AFTER THE MATERIAL HAS BEEN WETTREATED, SAID MATERIAL IS VACUUM EXTRACTED TO DRAW OFF PARTICLES WHICH HAVE FLOATED ONTO THE TEXTILE MATERIAL DURING SAID TREATMENT PROCESS.

p 1971 H. FLEISSNER 3,608,340

APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT 0F LIQUID-PERMEABLE MATERIALS Filed Dec. 1, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.2

H- FLEISSNER Sept. 28, 1971 APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT 0F LIQUID-PERMEABLE MATERIALS Filed Dec. 1, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.3

I N VENTOR. HE INZ FLEISSNER United States Patent Office 3,608,340 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 3,608,340 APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT F LIQUlD-PERMEABLE MATERIALS Heinz Fleissner, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, assignor to Vepa AG Filed Dec. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 687,320 Claims priority, applicatig; 4Germany, Dec. 3, 1966,

73 Int. Cl. B05c 3/132, 3/178, 8/04 US. Cl. 6819.1 16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for the wet-treatment, preferably for washing and impregnating liquid-permeable materials which can be stressed in the lengthwise direction, such as tow, top slivers, yarn, woven and knitted fabrics, needled felts and tufteds, fiber fleeces and similar materials in a running length. According to the present invention the material being treated is guided through the treatment bowls on at least one sleve drum through which the treatment liquid flows.

It is well known to treat the above mentioned materials continuously in sieve drum bowls. In known devices one or several sieve drums subjected to a suction draft and immersed either completely or only partially in the liquid are arranged in one treatment bowl. In these devices the liquor is passed through the material by the suction draft of the sieve drums, and thereby the material is intensely wetted and, in washing processes, intensely cleaned. The partial vacuum in the sieve drums generally ranges between about 20 and 80 mm. water column.

Instead of suction drums, it has already been suggested to use sieve drums where the liquid is pumped into the sieve drum and wherein the material is penetrated by the liquid flowing out of the sieve drums. The cleaning effect in these sieve drum devices is good. It is also well known to increase the efiiciency of the sieve drum devices by squeezing the material. Generally a squeezing means is provided behind each treatment bowl. It has been found that when wet-treating fabrics, especially dense fabrics and similar textile materials, said materials act as a filter within the liquor circulation so that the larger particles carried along by the liquor, such as fiber rests and other contaminations, deposit on the afilux side of the material being treated. When this material is subsequently squeezed these particles are pressed into the textile fabric and it is difficult to remove them.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to avoid the prior art disadvantages in the wet-treatment of materials, for example, the Washing and impregnating of liquid-permeable materials.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus wherein particles of contamination which have become deposited on the material being treated during the treatment process are removed from said material.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Pursuant to the present invention, it has been found that the above-mentioned disadvantages may be eliminated and a much improved apparatus for the wet-treatment of materials, for example textile materials, can be obtained by dehydrating the material being treated, after the treatment on the sieve drums, by vacuum extraction at the afliux side of the material being treated. Tests have shown that by employing vacuum extraction instead of squeezing, the treatment affect can be substantially improved so that a smaller number of treatment bowls can be used. By using vacuum extraction according to the present invention, all other particles floating onto the fabric or other textile material during the wet-treatment process are drawn off. This can be readily achieved since the particles of contamination have not been brought into intimate contact with the material being treated by squeezing. It has been found that by using a relatively light vacuum extraction, these contaminants are completely removed from the material. The partial vacuum which is effective in removing the particles of contamination generally ranges between about and 200: mm. water column.

In a further embodiment of the present invention it has been found to be advantageous to dehydrate the material by vacuum extraction and squeezing. It is also desirable and particularly with the last treatment bath, to dehydrate the material after squeezing by vacuum extraction. It has been found that by vacuum extraction after squeezing the residual moisture content of the material can be substantially reduced. Since less water has to be evaporated in subsequent drying stages, considerable savings of energy result.

According to the present invention vacuum extraction devices may be correlated to the well known sieve drum treatment bowls. The apparatus generally comprises a container which is at least partially filled with the treatment liquid and in which at least one and frequently several sieve drums are disposed through which the treatment liquid flows. It is desirable to correlate a suction tube and/or a suction tube of the vacuum extraction device directly to a guide roller at the discharge end of the apparatus, preferably in front of the guide roller as in this way a safe and generally undisturbed material guidance, without fluttering, is obtained. However, it is also possible to arrange a suction tube between two guide rollers at the discharge end of the apparatus. This is especially expedient if the material length is previously subjected to a fluttering motion.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, it is suggested to provide the apparatus with at least one perforated guide roller connected to the vacuum extraction device and to provide a bathe in or around the perforated guide roller which permits vacuum extraction at only one suction slit. In using an apparatus with a sieve drum which is substantially embraced by the material and which uses guide roller means correlated to the sieve drum for feeding the material to the seive drum and for discharging it from the sieve drum, at least the guide roller for discharging the material can be designed as a suction roller. However, it is also possible and frequently advantageous if both guide rollers are designed as suction rollers.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when using an apparatus which comprises several treatment bowls, it is desirable to design the guide rollers between adjacent bowls as suction rollers. The capacity of the well known devices which use a squeezing means behind each treatment bowl can be substantially increased if a suction roller and/or a suction tube is correlated to the apparatus and generally provided in front of the squeezing means. In the case of these devices a relatively low partial vacuum of about 100 mm. water column is generally suflicient for the vacuum extraction device. When using an apparatus comprising several treatment bowls, it is frequently desirable to provide one common vacuum extraction device. it is also possible, especially for achieving a good dehydration of thick materials, to provide the bottom roller of a squeezing means as a suction roller whereby the material can be vacuum extracted at the nip but also before and after passing the nip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of the present invention and wherein FIG. 1 shows the apparatus of the present invention with a sieve drum subjected to a suction draft;

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention using two sieve drums arranged one above the other;

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the present invention wherein more than one sieve drum means is utilized with a guide roller disposed therebetween; and

FIG. 4 shows, in detail, how the treatment liquid is taken from one sieve drum and introduced into another sieve drum.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to designate like parts, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a liquid container 1 which is filled with a treatment liquid 2. In the liquid container a sieve drum 3 subjected to a suction draft is provided for guiding the material 4 through the treatment liquid. To the sieve drum 3' guide rollers 5 and 6 are correlated and are designed as sieve rollers which are connected to a vacuum extraction device, not shown. In the sieve rollers 5 and 6 a baflle is provided which leaves only a suction slit 11 uncovered at the guide rollers. Further guide rollers 7 and 8 are situated at the inlet and discharge end of the liquid container 1. Instead of designing the guide rollers 5 and 6 as perforated rollers, suction tubes 9 which are shown by the dash-dot line in the drawing may also be arranged between the guide rollers 6 and 8 and/or between the guide rollers 7 and 5.

The apparatus according to FIG. 2 is similar in design to that of FIG. 1. In this apparatus two sieve drums 3 are arranged one above the other, the bottom sieve drum being subjected to a suction draft and the top sieve drum being subjected to an excess pressure. This is advantageous because the liquid drawn into the bottom sieve drum is pumped into the top sieve drum by means of the same pump (not shown) which may be correlated to the face of either sieve drum. However, each sieve drum may also be subjected to a suction draft or to an excess pressure, or the upper sieve drum may be subjected to a suction draft and the lower one to an excess pressure. At those portions of the sieve drums which are not covered with the material being treated, the suction draft is interrupted by means of baffies 12 arranged in the sieve drums just as with the sieve drum of the apparatus according to FIG. 1. In the apparatus according to FIG. 2 the material 4 is immersed in the liquid via a guide roller 7 and another guide roller 13 which is correlated to the upper sieve drum 3. Then the material 6 is passed around the upper sieve drum and subsequently around the lower sieve drum. In order to extend the dwelling path in the bowl, the material is passed over another guide roller 14 (behind the guide roller 13) which is correlated to the lower sieve drum 3 before it is passed on to the guide roller 8 at the discharge end of the bowl. FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the present invention wherein more than one sieve drum means is utilized with a guide roller 8 disposed therebetween. In front of the guide roller 8 a suction tube 9 is provided for dehydrating the material. A further dehydration by squeezing can be effected if the guide roller 8 is designed as a squeeze roller and if another squeeze roller 15, shown in FIG. 4, is correlated to the squeeze roller 8. FIG. 4 shows, in detail how the treatment liquid is taken from one sieve drum and introduced into another sieve drum.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the wet-treatment of materials which comprises a container means which is at least partially filled with a treatment liquid, at least one sieve drum means rotatably disposed within the container means, the inside of said sieve drum means being subjected to a suction draft or provided with a positive pressure, thereby producing said suction draft or positive pressure along substantially the entire surface of the sieve drum means in contact with the material being treated, causing said material to be penetrated by the treatment liquid, inlet means for introducing the material to be treated to the container means, at least one vacuum extraction means associated with the sieve drum means on the discharge side of said sieve drum means, and outlet means for removing the materail from the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the vacuum extraction means comprises sieve rollers communicating with a suction tube of a vacuum means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the sieve rollers are internally provided with concentricaly disposed bafile means containing a suction slit.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the sieve drum means is also provided with a vacuum extraction means on the inlet side of said sieve drum means.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the inlet and outlet means are guide roller means.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the vacuum extraction means on the inlet and discharge side of the sieve drum means are replaced by guide rollers and suction tubes are provided between said guide rollers and the inlet and outlet guide roller means.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein squeezing means are provided after the vacuum extraction means.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein squeezing means are provided before the vacuum extraction means.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the squeezing means comprises two roller means disposed one above the other, the lower roller means being designed as a suction roller.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the squeezing means comprises two roller means disposed one above the other, the lower roller means being designed as a suction roller.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein several container means having at least one sieve drum means disposed therein is utilized, said container means having disposed therebetween guide roller means designed as a suction roller.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein several container means having at least one sieve drum means disposed therein is utilized, said several container means being provided with a common vacuum extraction means at the discharge end of the apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the container means contains two sieve drum means disposed one above the other and the outlet means comprises a guide roller associated with a squeeze roller disposed thereabove.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein guide roller means are positioned in the container means to extend the dwelling path of the material being treated in said container means.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein a pump means communicates with the inside of one of the sieve drum means producing a suction draft therein, the treatment liquid drawn out of said sieve drum means being pumped by said pump means to the other sieve drum means producing an excess pressure therein.

16. An apparatus for the wet-treatment of materials which comprises a container means which is at least partially filledwith a treatment liquid, at least one sieve drum means rotatably disposed Within the container means, the inside of said sieve drum means being subjected to a suction draft thereby producing penetration of the treatment liquid from the outside to the inside thereof, inlet means for introducing the material to be treated to the container means, at least one vacuum extraction device associated with the sieve drum means and the flow side of the material being treated on the discharge side of said sieve drum means, and outlet means for removing the material from the apparatus.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,073,208 3/1937 Hayward 34l60X 2,209,760 7/1940 Berry 34-115X 2,893,043 7/1959 Charlton et a1. 6820X 2,940,288 6/1960 Walker 68184 3,199,126 3/1965 Chaikin et a1 8156 WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

